“Old Maid”, card game is part of a collection of games called scapegoat games, where the goal is to avoid a particular set of cards or card during gameplay. The game can be played by 2 to 8 players with a standard deck of 52 cards. The goal of the game is to avoid being the last player holding the “Old Maid”. The setup involves removing 3 queens from the deck of cards leaving the remaining queen to be the Old Maid. Alternatively, one queen could be removed and the remaining queen of the same color becomes the old maid.

After this step choose a dealer and deal the cards evenly among the players in the group. It is okay for some players to have more cards than others. The gameplay involves players looking for similar cards and disposing them. When a player has a match of 3 cards, he or she discards 2 and remains with one. The dealer will then offer the player on his or her left a hand side to randomly select a card from him. If the selected card matches one he or she has at hand, he or she drops the pair; otherwise he or she keeps it.

In a clockwise direction, this player then offers the player to his or her left the hand and the player repeats the same process. This cycle is repeated until there are no pairs left, except of course for the old maid. The player who is found holding the Old Maid at this time loses the game. Special old maid pack of cards can also be used to play this game. These cards contain a special ‘old maid’ that is decorated or uniquely different. Otherwise the rest of the cards remain the same. Whatever kinds of cards are used, the game proves to be fun to card players.

Below is a picture of a deck of old maid cards:

Tags: card games, old maid, rules